BURSA Malaysia ended lower today due to continued selling activities in telecommunications, media, industrial products and services counters, amidst cautious sentiments in the regional markets, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 9.85 points or 0.64% to 1,537.80 from Wednesday’s close of 1,547.65.
The index, which opened 1.22 points lower at 1,534.02, moved between 1,532.56 and 1,549.36 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing gainers 530 to 458, while 453 counters were unchanged, 866 untraded and 68 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 4.39 billion units worth RM3.34 bil from 3.67 billion units worth RM2.71 mil yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that profit-taking activities, particularly among banking and gaming heavyweights, had taken a toll on the local bourse.
“Key regional markets closed mixed as the energy crunch in China has hit industrial production, weighing on sentiment, while concerns about the Chinese property giant, Evergrande’s default risk eased after it reported plans to settle debt with a Chinese bank.
“Although broad-based sentiments continue to be cautious, we reckon bargain hunting in blue chips to persist, thus the benchmark index is expected to trend around the 1,540-1,550 range towards the weekend,” he said.
Meanwhile, Axiata and Press Metal were the top two losers in the benchmark index today, declining by 14 sen and 9 sen to RM3.91 and RM5.74, respectively.
As for other heavyweights, Maybank slipped 5 sen to RM8.05, Public Bank fell 3 sen to RM4.07, Petronas Chemicals went down 2 sen to RM8.70 and TNB shed 7 sen to RM9.68, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.70.
Of the actives, Serba Dinamik decreased 1.5 sen to 32 sen, Kanger International was flat at 5 sen, while Green Ocean added 1 sen to 5 sen and Widad Group earned half-a-sen to 39 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 33.94 points to 11,311.08, the FBMT 100 Index was 41.81 points easier at 10,998.02, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 35.34 points to 12,359.01.
The FBM 70 advanced 54.90 points to 14,980.76 while the FBM ACE fell 6.17 points to 7,158.90.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased 0.84 of-a-point to 204.23, the Plantation Index went down 19.98 points to 6,328.34, and the Financial Services Index reduced by 52.52 points to 15,207.35. – Sept 30, 2021
